Catalina Isl. Underwater

[The Repro Kid]

I finally got my housing for my new(ish) camera, and took it to Catalina Island a couple of weeks ago for test shots. My old camera was only 2.1 megapixels, but it's one redeeming quality was that it had a 1.8 aperture opening. My new one has the more typical 2.8 opening, and I really felt the difference. I have to slow the shutter way down to get enough light, almost every shot bordered on totally unfocussed. I'll have to see if I can hookup my old strobe to this set up. Some of these shots used the internal flash on the camera, I had it covered with a diffuse shield but you can still see lots of backscatter. the strobe diffuses better so that will help, but I like taking shots with no external lights best, so I'm not sure how much I'll like this set-up. The water was nice and clear this day but it was one of the few cloudy days we've had, and that kept things dark down below.

Bait Ball forming. No flash.
http://mendozaproductions.com/misc/Catalina11-07/DSCF0529.jpg

Shallow, but still dark. Internal flash, backscatter. Sure miss that 1.8 aperture.
http://mendozaproductions.com/misc/Catalina11-07/DSCF0532-2.jpg

Last shot on 512mb memory card with still more dives to do, and right before the sun started to come about a little bit. Raw photos take up a lot of room, got to get more memory cards.
http://mendozaproductions.com/misc/Catalina11-07/DSCF0553.jpg

[kialua]

i'm sure you will get it all figured out! Started out the day at 6 above, so the water looks inviting.

[The Repro Kid]

Wait till you see the Video! Maybe I'll post a "rough cut." I've been working on for a while now.

[The Repro Kid]

need better contrast and sharpness

Hmm, normally I'd appreciate the criticism, but I'm not sure you really the read my accompanying post, because I was not happy with the photos either. Curious, do you have any underwater shots you've taken that you could post?

Although I should probably explain the lack of sharpness on the surface (not underwater) shot. It's due to the fact that the camera was still in the housing and I was still soaking wet and in my wetsuit. The blurs are from water droplets on the lens that I could not (being soaking wet) seem to wipe off. At best they cause a surreal, and colder than it looks, effect. Or as you pointed out, they make the shot blurry.